Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophia Trujillo.
Sophia, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Food is something we are always surrounded by, we survive off it every day, but to me, food is more than a meal that comes on a plate. Growing up food meant families coming together, birthday celebrations, weddings and more. I grew up in San Diego, CA in a pretty diverse community, my family which is Cambodian and Thai was one of those communities of that neighborhood. Taco shops, sushi bars, pho restaurants, you name it and we had it all growing up. I think for me this is what opened my world to different types of foods because it was normal to just go to any of these places and a lot of these restaurants were only a few blocks away or a 10-minute drive. I’ll always appreciate the different types of people I met growing up in San Diego. The best word I could use would be a melting pot of cultures all combined together to build this neighborhood.
My family always made gatherings such a big deal and I never truly understood why, I just thought it was just another party they wanted to throw, but that wasn’t always the case. We love to celebrate when we get the chance, especially when it’s about another family member. In my teenage years, that’s when my dad started putting me to work to help the women of my family prep dishes for these gatherings. My job in the kitchen was prepping vegetables because that was the easiest thing to get me started on. I would watch my aunts, my stepmom and my dad make all these dishes perfectly, sometimes because I would help I could sneak a taste before anybody else. Even if I wasn’t the one cooking, I could see it was hard to make all these dishes for ten plus family members that were coming over, but all the smiles and laughter surrounding the home over these meals made it worth every minute.
I think one of my biggest influences for creating my food blog was my mom. She was the biggest ‘foodie’ I had ever met before that word was even a thing! She eats and will eat anything that looks and smells delicious. A lot of good memories we had were from the dinner parties she hosted throughout the years. Those were special times for me because I watched her prepare dishes at almost 5 in the morning and not ever asking for help. My mom and my grandma even cooked the 8-10 dishes for my husband and I’s wedding celebration! That’s a whole lot of love for one day.
Besides from cooking, she does take pleasure into going out and trying new places, a lot of places I even know of are because of her. She was never afraid of something different if anything, she encouraged it and to just give it a try. We find the best of places to eat in such a hole in the wall locations and for us, we always thought that was the best kind of food. I think besides all the dinner parties and going out to restaurants, deep down, she just wanted her family to come together over a meal.
I made my food blog just for fun because I wanted to show off the food I was always eating, but as I kept it going, I thought “more people need to know about how good this place is,” and it just grew from there. Thanks to my blog, I’m able to connect with other foodies from Denver and learn about more places that I didn’t know were out there. On my end, I want to show my friends, family and whoever else follows me to try something new in their area. I do try my best to explore all around Denver and not in one general spot. I want to show people that there are all these amazing spots that you wouldn’t even think about or maybe you pass by it and you just never thought to check it out.
Trying new foods, I feel like is a whole experience on its own. You get to taste all the flavors you wouldn’t think go together. Or maybe it’s even the atmosphere of the location that brings it all together. In the end, I hope people can find what they’re looking for or even ask me through my blog. The food scene is growing here in Denver and a long term goal for me to at least get to try any new place I can. I want my blog to keep growing but I don’t want to make it feel like a job, this is something I do enjoy more as a fun hobby.
Fun fact about my Instagram handle is that it’s a joke and a play on words, my initials are SBT so when I thought of Sophia Bubble Tea, I thought it was pretty clever and I also love bubble tea!
One person in my life, really helped me build my page and I don’t think I wouldn’t be where I’m at if it wasn’t for him. I would like to thank my husband, Eric Trujillo for coming with me to new restaurants to try, for being patient with me taking photos of our food, for pushing me to always try harder at what I do. I can’t take credit for this whole blog, he’s been a big part of it also.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
When you start something new, nothing is a smooth road. In my case, it was trying to keep up with the hot food spots in Denver or something small like making sure my camera catches everything. I’ve had my fair share of cold meals because I couldn’t get the right picture or I was taking too much time catching the right picture. I’ve even upgraded my phone to capture better pictures for my blog.
Spending my gas to go to a restaurant that’s 40 minutes away. Even more of ‘IG’ problems I like to call it like, should I use a filter or should I not and am I posting enough? These were some of the things I use to think about and sometimes still do, but even with all these minor struggles, my food blog wouldn’t be where it is today if I didn’t work hard from the start for it. Now that I have a decent following, I just limit my posting to every weekend or so.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success is when you see something grow from start to finish, or at least when it gets to the point of where you are comfortable with where it is going. If something happens, you’re there to figure it out.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @sophiabubbletea
Image Credit:
Sophia Trujillo
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